Front-page headlines tell of mortal threats all around -- Iranian nuclear ambitions, Hamas' rise to power, al Qaeda's shift of attention to Israel -- but the headlines on the business pages show Israel has never had it so good. First came the report that Warren Buffett chose to make his first foreign investment, the third-largest deal he has made, in Iscar Metalworking Cos. Most Israelis have never heard of the company, which Mr. Buffett has never visited. "We are investing $4 billion in an amazing band of people from Israel," he said. Major American investment houses quickly took up this expression of confidence in Israeli business despite the country's embattled image. Morgan Stanley issued a glowing review of the Israeli economy headlined "Israel: Almost Perfect." ... http://www.washingtontimes.com

The Israeli defence ministry has ordered an inquiry into the killing of a Palestinian family in Gaza. Three generations of the family died when their car was caught in a missile blast during an attack on a militant. The militant, Mohammed al-Dahdouh of Islamic Jihad, who was in a separate vehicle, was killed in the air strike. At the funeral, a man who survived the attack said he had lost the greatest things in his life - his wife, his son and his mother. His three-year-old daughter suffered severe injuries, and is in hospital in Gaza City, with her spinal cord severed. Doctors say she will never be able to move her arms or legs again, and will need a machine to help her breathe for the rest of her life. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5003604.stm

American defence officials have secretly requested a "prodigious quantity" of ammunition from Russia to supply the Afghan army in case a Democrat president takes over in Washington and pulls out US troops.The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Pentagon chiefs have asked arms suppliers for a quote on a vast amount of ordnance, including more than 78 million rounds of AK47 ammunition, 100,000 rocket-propelled grenades and 12,000 tank shells - equivalent to about 15 times the British Army's annual requirements.The Bush administration is said to want the deal because of worries that the next president could be a Democrat, possibly Hillary Clinton, who may abandon Afghanistan. White House insiders fear that Afghanistan could "drift" and consequently, they want heavily to arm President Hamid Kharzai's government before the 2008 US presidential election. ...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/22/warms22.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/22/ixnews.html

US led coalition forces killed about 50 suspected Taliban militants in an airstrike on a rebel stronghold in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the force said Monday. The attack occurred late Sun & early Mon on the village of Azizi in Panjwayi district, Kandahar province, said a coalition spokesman, Maj. Scott Lundy. "It was against a known Taliban stronghold & we believe it resulted in about 50 Taliban killed," he said. Local residents claimed scores of civilians had also been killed & wounded. Lundy said the coalition was investigating this. More than a dozen villagers, many of them wounded, fled the area to the city of Kandahar early Monday. At the city's Mirwaise Hospital, one man, with blood smeared over his clothes & turban, said insurgents had been hiding in an Islamic madrassa religious school in the village after fierce fighting in recent days. "Helicopters bombed the madrassa & some of the Taliban ran from there & into people's homes. Then those homes were bombed,"...http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-22-afghan-airstrike_x.htm?csp=34

A car bomber has struck near a multinational force base in Kabul, killing at least two civilians plus the bomber, the latest in a series of attacks by anti-government insurgents.The car bomb exploded on Sunday on a main road about 100 metres from a multinational force military base used to train Afghan security forces, the interior ministry said, adding that two people were also wounded."Today at 11:20am (0550 GMT) a [Toyota] Corolla taxi driven by a suicide bomber exploded ... near Camp Phoenix," the interior ministry spokesman, Yousuf Stanizai, said."As a result the bomber himself, a driver of a truck nearby and a civilian passer-by were killed."...http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/16476B1B-400D-41DE-96D4-50B628F5090E.htm

Two bombs blasted a Baghdad market on Monday, killing three people and wounding 12, police sources said. A car bomb and another bomb, apparently planted close to the street, struck the crowded area in the New Baghdad district in the mainly Shi'ite east of the capital. As well as the market, there was also a health clinic nearby.Officials have warned of a possible increase in attacks by Sunni militants like al Qaeda following the appointment of a new, national unity government on Saturday, after months of negotiation. At least 19 people were killed in three bomb attacks in the capital on Sunday.The Mujahideen Council, an al Qaeda-led militant group , said one of its fighters had carried out Sunday's suicide bombing that killed at least 13 people at a Baghdad restaurant, according to a statement posted on the Internet....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060522/ts_nm/iraq_bombs_dc